Right Here, Right Now (Fatboy Slim song)
"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American science fiction thriller film Strange Days (1995). "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.[2]
"Right Here, Right Now" | ||||
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Single by Fatboy Slim | ||||
from the album You've Come a Long Way, Baby | ||||
Released | 19 April 1999[1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label | Skint | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Fatboy Slim | |||
Fatboy Slim singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Right Here, Right Now" on YouTube |
Composition
The basic string melody of the song was sampled from the James Gang song "Ashes, the Rain & I". The lyrics "right here, right now" are a sample of Angela Bassett's voice saying "This is your life, right here, right now!" from the film Strange Days at the 1:43:21 mark.[3] The album version of "Right Here, Right Now" ends with a radio talk between Bradley Jay, a DJ of the WBCN radio station of Boston, and a Fatboy Slim fan called Brad.
Critical reception
Daily Record said the song is "brilliant".[4]
Music video
The music video for the song, created by Hammer & Tongs, is an elaborate homage to the famous opening sequence of the French educational series Once Upon a Time... Man. It shows a (scientifically inaccurate) timeline depicting the entire process of human evolution condensed into three and a half minutes. The beginning of the music video is set "350 billion years ago", and starts with a single celled eukaryote in the ocean evolving into a jellyfish, a pufferfish, and then a predatory fish. It manages to eat a smaller fish before leaping up onto dry land. With a dinosaur visible in the background and an insect in front, it stays still for a few seconds before setting off and eating the insect.
The land-fish evolves into a small alligator as it enters a forest. It sees a tall tree, which it climbs up. Its body is obscured by the tree as its hands visibly evolve until it arrives at the top as a baboon-like ape. It jumps from the tree into an icy landscape, enduring a blizzard as it evolves into a larger, gorilla-like ape. At the end of a large cliff, the ape beats its chest as the camera zooms out to show a vast desert. The ape jumps onto the ground, where it has evolved into a primate resembling an homo erectus. A large storm blows away much of its hair, turning it into a human (at this point the timer at the bottom right slows dramatically). The human runs faster and puts on some trousers and a T-shirt with the logo "I'm #1 so why try harder". When fully clothed, it turns into a modern human with a beard. The man walks through a city environment and eats a hamburger (taken from a cardboard cutout of Fatboy Slim himself), he pulls off the beard and morphs into the obese character depicted on the cover of the album. He finally sits down on a bench at night, at which point the video ends.
Track listings
UK and Australian CD single, UK 12-inch single[5][6]
- "Right Here, Right Now"
- "Don't Forget Your Teeth"
- "Praise You" (original version)
UK cassette single and European CD single[7][8]
- "Right Here, Right Now"
- "Don't Forget Your Teeth"
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI)[27] | Platinum | 600,000![]() |
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In popular culture
Manchester City, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Brighton & Hove Albion and many other teams play this song when their players walk out of the tunnel prior to a match.[28] On 8 October 2019, Fatboy Slim made a remix of the song using environmental activist Greta Thunberg's United Nations speech.[29] The song was used for the opening sequence of the pilot episode for the television series Third Watch.[30]
References
- "New Releases – For Week Starting 19 April, 1999: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 17 April 1999. p. 27. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- What is the Greatest Dance Track of All Time? Mixmag (15 February 2013).
- "Strange Days movie". Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2012 – via YouTube.
- "Chart Slot". Daily Record. 7 May 1999. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- Right Here, Right Now (UK & Australian CD single liner notes). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46CD, 667149 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - Right Here, Right Now (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - Right Here, Right Now (UK cassette single sleeve). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKINT 46MC.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - Right Here, Right Now (European CD single liner notes). Fatboy Slim. Skint Records. 1999. SKI 667149 1.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in French). Ultratop 50.
- "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 19. 8 May 1999. p. 8. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in French). Les classement single.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 24. 12 June 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 8 June 2020. See LW column.
- "Íslenski Listinn (3.6–10.6. 1999)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 4 June 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
- "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Right Here Right Now". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". Top 40 Singles.
- "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now". Singles Top 100.
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége.
- "Best Sellers of 1999: Singles Top 100". Music Week. 22 January 2000. p. 27.
- "British single certifications – Fatboy Slim – Right Here Right Now". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- manchester cityfans (17 April 2009). "man city songs- right here right now". Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2019 – via YouTube.
- Kaufman, Gil (8 October 2019). "Watch Fatboy Slim Play the Greta Thunberg 'Right Here, Right Now' Remix Live". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ""Third Watch" Welcome to Camelot (TV Episode 1999)". IMDb.
External links
- "Right Here, Right Now" at Discogs (list of releases)
- "Right Here, Right Now" official music video on YouTube